Album Review: DJ Spooky vs. Dave Lombardo

Several months ago, I learned of this album’s existence during one of my many trips to Wikipedia.org. I was astonished to find that Dave Lombardo, one of the finest drummers to ever grace the double bass, had worked on a hip-hop album. He has worked on a number of non-metal projects, including drumming for John Zorn on an avant-garde faux-jazz album entitled “Xu Feng.”

I have always said that no other metal drummer can groove like Dave Lombardo. Sure, there’s probably plenty of drummers who can play faster than he can, but I’ve yet to hear another metal drummer groove at 150bpm (listen to Slayer’s “Angel of Death,” “Raining Blood, or “War Ensemble” to hear what I’m talking about). That said, I had high hopes for the groove factor, since the drummer is one who can groove and hip-hop, by its nature, requires groove.

I was expecting a style ala The Roots, with minimal sampling layered above organic instrumentation. What I got was organic drumming with lots of sampling. This is not to say that it takes away from the album; it’s quite interesting to hear, actually. Some tracks feature sampled metal guitar riffs (for example, “Terra Nullis: Cyborg Rebellion on Colony Planet Zyklon 15”). I was under-impressed by the riffs (recovering metalhead, remember), but the drumming stood out above all.

The album’s weak point is the lyrics. Only a couple songs feature an MC. The tracks do not list who does the rapping, so I’m assuming it’s DJ Spooky himself. His flow is unoriginal, as is his voice. The first full track features an MC repeating the song’s title, “Brothers Gonna Work It Out” over and over again. I’ve yet to look up the lyrics to the rest of the songs with an MC, so I cannot really comment on them. My guess is that this album’s appeal is supposed to be “Hey look! Dave Lombardo drums on a hip-hop album!” as opposed to “Yo, check out these def rhymes.” The former reason caught my eye, but it would’ve been nice if there had been more thought put into the lyrics. Maybe some guest appearances by notable MC’s would’ve made this aspect of the album better.

That said, Dave Lombardo is the high point of this album. He plays an extended drum solo on “Incipit Zarathustra,” which is interspliced with moments of turntablism and ambient samples. His drumming is tight as always, though to the rhythmically-untrained ear, it might appear that he is just noodling around on the drums. There are some hot and heavy beats on “Brothers Gonna Work It Out” and “Public Enemy #1” (which also features the best MC performance in the style of NWA and, coincidentally, Public Enemy). On one of the songs, it sounds like he even forays into jazz drumming (he uses brushes instead of sticks). I can’t say the outcome is on par with great jazz drummers such as Elvin Jones or Joe Morello, but it works well for the song.

In summary, this is a great album for drummers, just to hear Mr. Lombardo in a different setting. This is a great album for fans of breakbeat and hip-hop, because Lombardo really does drop the beat. I have even more respect for him after hearing this album. If you’re a Slayer fan expecting the guitarwork of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, then don’t get this album. The few metal tracks don’t feature anything special. I can compare this to an RJD2 or Blockhead album, but with live drumming and slightly less appealing melodic sampling.